


Stay Kind, Little One

by ViciousRhythm



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: (meaning they are kids), Ben's ears, Cute, F/M, Gen, Kid Fic, for what passes as plot, it's a plot point, it's really just kid cuteness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-02
Updated: 2016-05-02
Packaged: 2018-06-05 21:12:23
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,317
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6723607
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ViciousRhythm/pseuds/ViciousRhythm
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Leia stops short when she reaches him, however. "Ben, what is on your head?"</p><p>He flushes immediately and takes an even keener interest in his cursive homework, mumbling, "Nothing."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stay Kind, Little One

Leia is the last parent to arrive at daycare, and every time she says it won't happen again, she means it, but it always ends up happening anyway. Work just seems to have this way of running late, and before she knows it, it's almost six thirty and she has to race to get to the daycare center before they give up on her arrival. Ben is used to it by now, now that he's in third grade and trying to fool everyone into thinking he's a big kid. He's sitting at the table in the center of the room, practicing cursive when Leia hustles in making the usual apologies for showing up past closing time.

"It's not a problem, Mrs. Solo," Maria says, smiling easily. She owns the center and generally doesn't mind when Leia shows up a few minutes before or after closing. Leia may not be a single mother like Maria, but they have an understanding as two overworked women with young boys. "Ben has been perfectly well-behaved today."

"Still," Leia starts, headed over to greet her son with Maria trailing a bit behind. She stops short when she reaches him, however. "Ben, what is on your head?"

He flushes immediately and takes an even keener interest in his cursive homework, mumbling, "Nothing." Which is absolutely false. He has what looks like scotch tape, three or four pieces of it, stuck around the shell of his ears in what can only be an attempt to get them to lie perfectly flat against his skull.

Knowing her son inherited not only her stubborn streak, but his father's as well, Leia turns to Maria in hopes of some enlightenment instead. She shrugs and waves Leia over to the sign out sheet, directing Ben to pack up his homework and get his bag from the cubbies while the adults talk.

"Ben was, ah, making new friends today," Maria says, badly hiding a grin that Leia has worn herself whenever her son has done something particularly ridiculous. "We have a new student from the first grade class at Jakku, and I think Ben might have a little bit of a crush."

It's not a new idea to Leia, who has already watched Ben go through a confusing bout of puppy love with his 'all-time best friend forever' Poe. That had been a fleeting thing, but Ben has always worn his heart on his sleeve, and Leia has already accepted that he'll likely end up with more than his share of infatuation over the years. "What's his name?"

"Her name's Rey," Maria gently corrects. "And they were getting along famously for most of the day. Rey just. Well. She is only six years old, and she said Ben looked like he could fly with his ears, and I think he took it the wrong way." Maria winces. "He stormed off and Rey was very upset. Apparently she thinks his ears are neat, but Ben didn't want to talk to her for the rest of the day. He did, um, _that_ after the other kids were gone. I think he's trying to train them down."

Leia heaves a sigh, resisting the urge to rub a hand over her temple. She was hoping to avoid the self-esteem talk until Ben was at least ten and more gangly than he already is. Hopefully puberty will be as kind to her boy as it was to her, but the intervening years may prove a challenge.

"Do you know if Rey will be staying with the center?" Maria confirms as much, barring some sort of shift in the little girl's circumstances, and Leia nods along. Ben is ready to go by the time the adults are wrapping up their conversation, and he stares at his mother, a little awkward as usual, patiently waiting to go home, with that silly tape across his ears.

"You know you're perfect just as you are, right?" Leia says in the car. Ben shrugs, all of eight years old and already an expert at the silent treatment. "It doesn't matter what other kids think of you, Ben. We love you just the way you are, and anyone who doesn't isn't worth your time."

"Yeah, Mom," he groans, rolling his eyes at her embarrassing affection. "I know."

Leia debates whether it would be more productive to try to reassure him or ask about why he has tape wrapped around his head, like she doesn't already know the answer to that question. 

"Did Maria talk to you about Rey?" he says in a quiet voice a moment later, taking the decision from her.

"She did," Leia says carefully. "She said Rey was trying to compliment you."

"She was _not!_ " Ben exclaims, clutching suddenly onto his backpack where it sits on his lap. "She said my ears looked like Dumbo! That I look like I have wings on my head."

"Maybe Rey likes Dumbo," Leia offers a bit weakly. It wouldn't do to laugh, not when Ben's upset, but she has insider information that Rey very much meant it as a compliment. "You should tell her she hurt your feelings, I'm sure she didn't mean to."

"She didn't hurt my _feelings_." Ben manages to pack as much scathing disbelief into that sentence as humanly possible for such a small child. "She's right, my ears look dumb. They should be better."

"Ben," Leia starts sternly. "It's a part of you, you can't change it just because someone says something you don't like." She pulls into the driveway and parks, turning fully to her son. "I promise if you talk to Rey tomorrow, she won't be mean to you. She's younger than you, she doesn't know how to be polite about some things yet. You should give her a chance."

She leans forward to peel the tape off of his head, and Leia takes it as a win that he lets her, only wincing when the tape pulls at the baby hairs it's stuck to. He stays silent the whole time and even lets Leia pet his hair for a moment before shrugging her off. He is attempting to be a big kid, after all, he can't have his mother stroking his hair for too long where anyone could see them in the driveway.

"Fine," he says, petulant as anything. "I'll talk to her tomorrow. But my ears are still dumb."

Leia leans forward to kiss his ear, inspiring him to shriek in an entirely undignified way and bat her away from his head. "I still love them anyway," she says, smiling widely. "And you'll grow into them, I promise."

"Whatever," he says, both hands clapped over his ears to protect them from her assault. "You have to say that, you're my mom."

"Maybe," she says, noncommittal. "But I can show you some pictures of your father and me from when we were kids, and you can see how weird we looked."

"You look weird now," Ben shoots back, kicking open the car door now that the enforced support is over and his mom is acting like her normal teasing self again.

Leia wrangles him into looking at childhood photos of her and Han anyway, and he laughs at how skinny Han used to be and the hairdo Leia had had in high school. Ben is even in a good mood by the time Han gets home, and he only throws a mild fit over having chicken _again_.  All in all, it's not a terrible day in the Solo house. He doesn't have tape on his ears when Leia picks him up the next day after school, and Leia is less than surprised when he asks if boys and girls can have playdates too. She'll have to see if she can get out of work early one day and catch Rey's mother or father at daycare if they're going to be setting up playdates.

**Author's Note:**

> I did (and still do) intend to write more of this, but I think it will have to be at a later date, because my kidfic inspiration is currently lacking, but it WILL happen!


End file.
